1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an Internet communication technique. More particularly, it relates to a technique for notifying a person accessing the Internet of an incoming telephone call attempt from a calling party.
2. Background of Related Art
For users of the Internet, access to the Internet often occurs over the same telephone line that is used to place and receive telephone calls. For instance, in a business or household with only one telephone line, once the telephone line is connected to the Internet, no other telephone calls (including Caller ID) can be received on that single telephone line. In fact, a person attempting to call that particular party will receive a busy signal, and will be required to repeatedly call until the user disconnects by chance from the Internet, allowing a subsequent telephone call to go through.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional single line telephone system capable of allowing a user to access and connect to the Internet over the publicly switched telephone network (PSTN).
In particular, in FIG. 1, a single line telephone system 11 has a handset 13, which in effect is connected to a personal computer system 15 or the like through a modem connection 17. Modern computers no longer use acoustical coupling methods, but rather use a direct connection between a telephone line and a modem. The depiction in FIG. 1 is used to emphasize that the telephone line is in an off-hook condition when connected to the Internet.
The single line telephone system 11 connects the personal computer system 15 to the Internet 21 using a connection to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) connected to the PSTN 19. The personal computer system 15 can be connected to the Internet 21 when desired, and for as long as desired, by the user of the single line telephone system 11. Oftentimes, Internet-related telephone connections can last for many hours at a time.
When a calling party on another telephone system 23 connected to the publicly switched telephone network 19 attempts to call the single line telephone system 11 at a time when the user of the single line telephone system 11 has already accessed and connected the telephone system 11 to the Internet 19, the user of the other telephone system 23 will receive a busy signal. Unfortunately, the calling party must continue to redial and attempt connection with the user of the single line telephone system 11 until the user of the single line telephone system 11 disconnects from the Internet or otherwise hangs up the handset 13 of the single line telephone system 11. Given the generally lengthy nature of Internet-related telephone connections, the process of continually re-dialing the user of the single telephone line system 11 is not only inconvenient to the calling party, but could have serious consequences if the calling party has an emergency or other important message which must be conveyed to the user of the single line telephone line system 11.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an apparatus and method for notifying a user of a single line telephone system of an incoming telephone call from a calling party when the user is accessing the Internet with the single line telephone system.